hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · IllegalArgumentException

XML array '{}' in '{}' is not supported with legacy format e

Error message

XML array '{}' in '{}' is not supported with legacy format enabled.

What it means

Error "XML array '{}' in '{}' is not supported with legacy format enabled." thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/dialect/aggregate/PostgreSQLAggregateSupport.java:136

								);
						}
					default:
						return template.replace(
								placeholder,
								"cast(" + aggregateParentReadExpression + "->>'" + columnExpression + "' as " + getCastTypeName( column, typeConfiguration ) + ')'
						);
				}
			case XML_ARRAY:
			case SQLXML:
				switch ( column.getJdbcMapping().getJdbcType().getDefaultSqlTypeCode() ) {
					case SQLXML:
						return template.replace(
								placeholder,
								XML_EXTRACT_START + xmlExtractArguments( aggregateParentReadExpression, columnExpression + "/*" ) + XML_EXTRACT_END
						);
					case XML_ARRAY:
						if ( typeConfiguration.getCurrentBaseSqlTypeIndicators().isXmlFormatMapperLegacyFormatEnabled() ) {
							throw new IllegalArgumentException( "XML array '" + columnExpression + "' in '" + aggregateParentReadExpression + "' is not supported with legacy format enabled." );
						}
						else {
							return template.replace(
									placeholder,
									"xmlelement(name \"Collection\",(select xmlagg(t.v order by t.i) from xmltable(" + xmlExtractArguments( aggregateParentReadExpression, columnExpression + "/*" ) + " columns v xml path '.', i for ordinality)t))"
							);
						}
					case BINARY:
					case VARBINARY:
					case LONG32VARBINARY:
						// We encode binary data as hex, so we have to decode here
						return template.replace(
								placeholder,
								"decode((select t.v from xmltable(" + xmlExtractArguments( aggregateParentReadExpression, columnExpression )+ " columns v text path '.') t),'hex')"
						);
					case ARRAY:
						throw new UnsupportedOperationException( "Transforming XML_ARRAY to native arrays is not supported on PostgreSQL!" );
					default:

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Disable legacy XML format.
2. Avoid XML array aggregates on PostgreSQL.

When it happens

Trigger: Triggered when the application calls a Hibernate dialect feature that the configured database dialect cannot provide: XML array is not supported with legacy format enabled (PostgreSQL).

Common situations: Common when running against a database whose dialect lacks this capability, when a mapping or HQL/Criteria query requests unsupported functionality, or when the wrong dialect is configured for the database in use. Error: XML array is not supported with legacy format enabled (PostgreSQL).

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9c972ec886fbd1d3. Report an issue: GitHub.